Isaac Henry Robert Mott, pianoforte maker

Tags

music

Street View: 9 Suppl.
Address: 76 Strand

The elevation at the top of this post is from the original 1839 booklet of Tallis’s Street View of the Strand (number 19), but the index to that edition does not mention anyone occupying the premises, so it was presumably empty at the time. On the right-hand side of the building is the entrance to Ivy Bridge Lane; the name is not very clear on the picture, but the index lists Bridge Lane between numbers 75 and 76. To confuse the issue somewhat, the 1847 edition of Tallis’s Street View calls it Ivy Lane. The official name was Ivy Bridge Lane and it is already depicted on the mid-16th century Agas map (see here). The lane used to slope down to the river (see for pictures here and here), but these days ends in Savoy Place. There are gates on either side of the lane, so no longer publicly accessible. My facsimile copy of Tallis’s work unfortunately shows number 76 in the 1847 Street View across two pages, split in half on either side of the fold, so not very convenient to show at the top of this post, but as it looks as if the 1847 occupant embellished the front of his shop with fancy lintels above the windows and the figures of two angels (?) between the first-floor windows, I thought it best to show you the picture anyway.

The occupant in 1847 was Isaac Henry Robert Mott, piano-forte maker. Isaac did not live above the shop, but from about 1830 to 1846 at Blythe House, Brook Green, Hammersmith, and later at Notting Hill. In the 1841 census, Isaac’s parents-in-law, George and Rebecca Jackson are living at Blythe House with one of their own daughters and six Mott children, three from Isaac’s first marriage and three from his second marriage to Rebecca Anne Jackson.⁽¹⁾ George Jackson was a ship and insurance broker of Billiter Court and he may have assisted Isaac financially when he was facing bankruptcy proceedings in 1840.⁽²⁾ Blythe House was a rather grand building and most likely the property of George Jackson. When George died in 1846, his will (dated 1 October 1845) makes no mention of Blythe House, which suggests he did not own it.⁽³⁾ Around 1846, Isaac Mott moved to Notting Hill, an event very likely to have been forced upon him by the death of his father-in-law; the baptism of the youngest child was registered at St. John the Evangelist, Ladbroke Grove, rather than at St. Paul, Hammersmith, as the other children from his second marriage had been.

‘Plate 111: Blythe House’, in Survey of London: Volume 6, Hammersmith, ed. James Bird and Philip Norman (London, 1915), p. 111. British History Online

Isaac Henry Robert Mott had a rather checkered career: in 1814 he is listed as a musician at Birmingham, but from 1817 onwards we find him as a piano-forte maker and that is what he is certainly best known for. However, in 1839 we also find him as a distiller at 75 Dean Street and 3 Richmond Mews. The distillery business seemed to have been short-lived and may have been the cause of his bankruptcy in 1840 and is no longer mentioned in directories for the 1840s. Early on in his career, from 1814 to 1818 or 1819, Mott lived at Brighton where he developed the New Steyne Library and Assembly Rooms. In 1817, he took out a patent for his ‘sostinente pianoforte’ and when George IV bought one of his instruments, his career was made. ‘Piano-forte maker to the king’ sounds much better than plain ‘music teacher and instrument maker’. Brighton could no longer hold him and Mott sought further fortunes in London; the library and assembly rooms he left behind were turned into the New Steyne Bazaar.

See the article by Katherine Prior (@Churchwardress) in the Kemptown Rag of May 2018, page 15, for more on Brighton’s New Steyne/Steine and the link with Mott.

Grand piano Buckingham Palace, Inscriptions on soundboard: I.H.R.Mott.A.D.1817; above keyboard: Patent Sostenente Grand / IHR Mott,I.C.Mott & Comp : / 95 Pall Mall London / Makers to His Majesty Probably purchased by George IV from Mott’s of Pall Mall; it stood originally in the Music Room Gallery, Brighton Pavilion, where it can be seen in John Nash’s engraving of 1824 (see below) Source: Royal Collection Trust

Royal Pavilion music room with Mott’s piano

Isaac and his cousin Julius Caesar Mott started a piano-forte business in Pall Mall, together with one John Chatfield, who may have been a relation of Sarah Chatfield, the stepmother of Isaac’s father. The partnership was dissolved in 1824, not entirely without acrimony, and Isaac continued on his own at 92 Pall Mall.⁽⁴⁾ For a short period, 1829-1832, Mott also had an outlet in Oxford Street, and the review of Mott’s Advice and Instruction for Playing the Piano Forte with Expression in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review of 1824 mentions 24 Dover Street, Piccadilly, an address that can also be seen on ‘Fly ye moments!’ and Sacred Melodies below. The first mention of 76 Strand is in an Old Bailey case of January 1842 where Mott had to testify as, in December 1841, someone had falsely claimed that 76 Strand was his address. Mott denied knowing this person and stated that he lived in the country and has his piano-forte “ware-rooms” at 76 Strand since mid-November. Mott explained that nobody lived at the premises and that he had no lodgers. There was only one small bedroom and his son slept there to keep an eye on the place at night.⁽⁵⁾ The 1843 Post Office Directory duly lists his Strand address. It also lists a Mrs Rebecca Mott at 24 Old Fish Street as a carwoman, but whether she was Isaac’s wife or someone else altogether I do not know. From 1842 till 1849, Mott also had premises at 23 Poppin’s Court.

advertisement in The Morning Post, 5 May 1825

The 1851 census shows Isaac, Rebecca and six of their children at 48 Norland Square, Notting Hill. Isaac is listed as piano-forte maker, employing 12 men. The Poppin’s Court property is no longer mentioned for Isaac in the 1851 Post Office Directory. In 1855, when on a business trip to France, Isaac died suddenly. R.E.M. Harding in her The Piano-Forte of 2014 lists “Mott’s Piano-Forte Athenaeum” in 1857, but the reference is without a source, so I am not sure where it came from. I have not found any indication that the piano business survived after Isaac’s death, so will end this post here.

top part of ‘Fly ye Moments!’ by Mrs Mott (presumably Fanny as the work must be dated somewhere between 1820 and 1824 (Source: National Library of Australia)

Addresses found:
private
1814 Maphouse Lane, Birmingham
1815-1818 Brighton (New Steyne?)
1830-1846 Blythe House
1846-1855 48 Norland Square, Notting Hill

business
1813-1815 Birmingham
1815-1818? New Steyne, St. James’s Street, Brighton
1819?-1825? 95 Pall Mall
?-1824 24 Dover Street, Piccadilly
1825?-1841 92 Pall Mall
1829-1832 315 Oxford Street (later renumbered to – I think – 283)
1839-1840 75 Dean Street & 3 Richmond Mews (distillery)
1841-1855 76 Strand
1842-1849 Poppin’s Court

(1) Isaac married Fanny Rackstrow in July 1813 at Oxford. Their children were Henry Isaac Robert July 1814-Dec. 1814; Henry Isaac Robert July 1815-Oct. 1815; Henry George Dennison 1817-before 1874; Evelina Maria Christina 1820-1901; Rosa Fanny 1822-1892. Their mother Fanny died in 1826 and Isaac remarried Rebecca Anne Jackson in April 1830. They had 8 children: George Henry 1831-1906; Emily 1832-1875; Fanny 1834-1913; Arthur Robins 1835-1876; William Henry 1837-1923; Herbert Frederik 1839-1840; Ernest Charles 1844-1899; and Francis De la Motte 1846-1902. More on the Mott family here.
(2) The London Gazette, 10 November 1840.
(3) PROB 11/2033/11.
(4) The London Gazette, 1 June 1824; and The Morning Post, 25 March 1824.
(5) Old Bailey case t18420103-452.

Neighbours:

<– 77 Strand

75 Strand –>

Anthony Brown, musical instrument maker

Tags

dyer, music

Street View: 8
Address: 28 High Holborn

As we saw in the post on John Hooper, 28 High Holborn was occupied by his neighbour (and later father-in-law) Richard Swift, perfumer, but the last we hear of the latter is in 1831 when he took out an insurance policy with the Sun Alliance. Two years later, Eliza Huntley, hairdresser and perfumer, insures the property, but that is all we know of her. In July 1837, Emma Sarah, the daughter of Anthony and Julia Brown is baptised at St. Andrew’s, Holborn, and although no house number is given, the family lived at High Holborn. In the church record, Anthony is described as musical instrument maker. Although he was born in London, Anthony was originally called Antonio Bruno, as his ancestors were of Italian origin, but he anglicised his name to Anthony Brown. Pigot’s Directory of 1839 duly lists him at number 28. Tallis lists him at 28 High Holborn as violin, violincello and guitar maker, but he was not to stay at the address for very long.

In the 1841 census, Anthony can already be found at 40 Upper Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell, still listed as musical instrument maker. At the same address we find Alexander Cheffins, professor of music, whom we came across in the post on 4 Mortimer Street. Both gentlemen only made a brief appearance at the addresses that Tallis listed and if he had published his booklets a year later, he might have missed them altogether. Anthony Brown was to remain at Upper Rosoman Street for quite some years, although he seems to have emigrated to Australia later in life. At some point in time he worked with Joseph Panormo, the brother of Louis Panormo whom we have encountered in the post on 46 High Street, Bloomsbury. I suppose musical London was not that big a place and we should not really be surprised that Panormo, Cheffins, and Brown were in some way linked.

The next occupant of number 28 is Charles Laughton, a hosier, who was definitely there when the census of 1841 was taken, that is, on the night of 6/7 June. According to the Post Office Directory of 1848, he was still there, but, in the directory of 1851, he has made way for Henry Hart, clothier and outfitter. Around that time, Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, depicted the two small houses at 28 and 30 High Holborn.

T.H. Shepherd, 27-31 High Holborn (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Both Shepherd and the engraver for Walford’s Old and New London give the shop at number 28 the name “Aux Mille Couleur” and above the windows the words “cleaner, dyer, scourer”, so the shop was certainly no longer occupied by Hart, the outfitter. The alleyway between the two buildings, behind the man and the dog, leads to number 29, the Coach & Horses whose proprietor Pacy also took over number 30. The 1851 census (30 March) tells us that Henry Hart is still at number 28, so the Shepherd and Walford drawings must date from a later period. The British Museum dates the picture to c. 1850 and J.F.C. Phillips in his Shepherd’s London (1976) to c. 1852, which accords with the pencilled comment by J.G. Crace under the British Museum copy which says c. 1852 and that seems a more likely date than 1850 since Henry Hart is still at number 28 at the time of the census and is also listed in the 1851 Post Office Directory. The 1856 Post Office Directory gives ‘Boura Aimé, dyer & scourer’ which does corresponds to the lettering on the property in the two pictures. No comma between Boura and Aimé, so unclear whether Aimé is a first name.

E. Walford, Old and New London, vol. 4 – detail

But the listing in the 1856 directory does not solve everything. There were two gentlemen of that name in London who were both listed as scourers and dyers: Julien Aimé Boura and Louis Aimé Boura, no doubt with a close family relationship. In the 1851 and 1861 censuses, Julien is enumerated at 42 Edgware Road and Louis at 31 Rathbone Place, so neither was living at 28 High Holborn. The Finsbury electoral register for 1865 lists an Aimé Boura at 28 High Holborn, but does not give more information. The 1841 census, however, lists Louis as Aimé Boura at Rathbone Place and an Old Bailey case confirms that Louis and Aimé are one and the same person. Boura states that he is a dyer of Rathbone Place and that “I call myself both names when it is required, but generally I do not give any name but Aime” and when asked to confirm that he had two names, “I have never been used to write only Aime — it is the name I have always gone by — it is my Christian name”; in other words, he is called by his second name, but uses both first names in writing.⁽¹⁾ This explains why the census and electoral register just use ‘Aimé’ as that was probably his answer to their question ‘What is your name?’.

The 1861 census for 28 High Holborn shows a blank space behind number 28, so presumably nobody slept on the premises and the 1871 census even skips the number altogether. This would be the end of the story of 28 High Holborn, but for an invention by Louis Aimé Boura of Rathbone Place which was explained in The Patent Journal, and Inventors’ Magazine of 1848 and which I thought I’d share with you. The contraption was also shown in the 1851 Great Exhibition.

(1) Old Bailey Case t18420919-2638.

Neighbours:

<– 29 High Holborn

27 High Holborn –>

Alexander Cheffins, music seller

Tags

book trade, clothing, music

Street View: 65
Address: 4 Mortimer Street

The index to booklet 65 of the Street Views, lists Cheffin, music seller, at 4 Mortimer Street, but the elevation in the street plan gives the name of Morse, bookseller & stationer, so what is going on? The bookseller was Edward Morse, who could be found at number 4 in Pigot’s Directory of 1839 and in the 1841 census, but that is more or less the end of the story for Morse, as I have not been able to find out anything else about him; he must have had a very short career indeed. I will leave Mr. Morse for what he was and continue with Cheffin whose name was usually spelled with an ‘s’, so Cheffins. If you search online for Cheffins, you will invariably end up with information about Charles Frederic Cheffins, but that was Alexander’s brother. Charles was the elder of the brothers and baptised in December 1807 at St. Bride’s as the son of Richard and Jane Cheffins. Richard Cheffins worked for the New River Waterworks Company and was a member of the Pattenmakers’ Company, although he described himself as surveyor on the indenture document when he took Charles on as his apprentice in 1822. Charles had a glittering career as mechanical draughtsman, lithographer, cartographer, consulting engineer, and surveyor. He published many maps, of which the majority depicted new railways that were either proposed or being built.

London & Birmingham Railway Map, published by Chas. F. Cheffins, Surveyor, Engineering Draughtsman & Lithographer, 1835 (Source: Andrew Cox PBFA via Abebooks)

Charles became assistant to John Ericson who was working on a faster engine for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. This connection with Liverpool brought Charles into contact with Lucinda Harrison Grey, whom he married there in October 1830, but the couple went to live in London and the 1841 census finds them at 9 Southampton Buildings, Holborn, the address Cheffins continued to use throughout his life. Only in the very last year of his life, 1861, after the death of his wife the year before, did he move to 15 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park.⁽¹⁾

portrait of Alexander (Source: Kateelliott50 at ancestry.co.uk)

But back to 4 Mortimer Street where brother Alexander Cheffins had his music business, or at least, he had for a short while. Alexander, as we saw, was the son of Richard and Jane Cheffins, and he too was baptised at St. Bride’s, on 17 July 1814. In February 1837, he married Ann Pattison at All Souls, St. Marylebone. The earliest I found him in Mortimer Street is on the baptism registration for their son Frederick who was baptised on 22 May 1838. Alexander gives his occupation as pianoforte maker, so he was definitely involved in the music industry. The next child for the couple to be baptised is Anne Louisa (21 Aug. 1839). Alexander is then listed as a musical instrument seller, but the address given is 15 Mortimer Street. That section of Mortimer Street is not listed by Tallis, so I cannot say who occupied number 15 before Cheffins. Pigot’s Directory of 1839 also lists Cheffins at number 15, so the occupation of number 4 was as short-lived as it was for Edward Morse. And so was their sojourn at number 15, as the 1841 census already reports them at Upper Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell. Alexander is then a “professor of music” (see the post on Anthony Brown, musical instrument maker, for other residents at that address). In 1844, the Cheffins family lives in Granville Square, in 1845-1851 in Weston Street, in 1852-1856 in Ampton Street, all the while with Alexander described as professor of music. But then, in 1859, when the youngest child, Percy, is baptised, the family is living at Brunswick Street and Alexander is suddenly described as surveyor.⁽²⁾ What happened? Was music no longer profitable enough? Or perhaps, he was not as musical as he made out? The only publication I found for him is a ballad, “The Happy Bride” which begins: They said she was married. The text is by J.H. Jewell and the music by Cheffins.⁽³⁾

Whatever the reason for Alexander’s change of profession, from 1859 onwards he is variously described as draughtsman or surveyor. In other words, he followed in his father and brother’s footsteps. And in 1865, he is given a provisional patent as a mechanical draughtsman for an invention to improve the construction of omnibuses.⁽⁴⁾ In 1871 and 1881 the census found him at Kentish Town. He died in 1885. Son Edwin had a similar job change as his father; in 1871 he was listed as a railway clerk, but in 1881 as a pianoforte tuner. Music, drawing and mechanics were apparently skills that went together in this particular family.

Milliner from Tabart’s Book of Trades, volume 2 (1806)

And 4 Mortimer Street? We saw Edward Morse there in the 1841 census and he had his name plastered on the front of the building in the Street View, but most of the building must have been overrun by the women of Anna Maria Hammans’s milliner’s business. The occupation of the building by the Hammanses pre- and post-dates that of Morse and Cheffin, so it seems that it was a multi-business property. The Hammanses were already there in early 1834, when Maria and Rebecca Hammans of 4 Mortimer Street dissolve their partnership, but possibly long before that.⁽⁵⁾ In 1841, Anna and at least nine women were living at the property, besides bookseller Morse, a porter and three gentlemen who were listed as independent. One of the milliners was Elizabeth Abrahall who is mentioned in Anna’s will of 1845 as her sister and who is left the business.⁽⁶⁾ The 1851 census does indeed see Elizabeth Abrahall at number 4 as dressmaker, although the 1851 Post Office Directory still has the name of Anna Maria Hammans for number 4. The 1856 Post Office Directory names the firm Mrs Elizabeth Hammans & Co. By 1861, however, her place has been taken by Eliza Johnson, a lodging house keeper. And is this the whole story? No, censuses and Tallis do not tell us everything. We know, for instance, that in 1848, one Jacques Robert Lavenne, heraldic engraver and fancy stationer, was listed as “late of no. 4” in the bankruptcy records. And the same goes for John James MacGregor, surgeon, who had to appear before the commissioners in 1855. What does seem clear is that 4 Mortimer Street, contrary to many long-running single-family businesses listed in the Street Views, had numerous occupants, as well as a resident family not mentioned in Tallis, in the years just before, during and after the period in which Tallis produced his booklets.

—————-
(1) Charles was buried at All Souls, Kensal Green 28 October 1861. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861. Estate valued at under £35,000. Sons Charles Richard and George Alexander were two of the executors.
(2) Children: Frederick, bapt. 22-05-1838; Anne Louisa, bapt. 21-8-1839; Henry Alexander, bapt. 31-10-1841; Richard Albert, bapt. 8-9-1844; Julia, bapt. 8-11-1845; Herbert George, bapt. 23-05-1852; Edwin John, bapt. 17-9-1854; Alfred Courtenay, bapt. 8-6-1856; and Percy Frank, bapt. 28-8-1859.
(3) British Library music collection H.282.o.(8).
(4) Patent Office, Chronological and Descriptive Index of Patents, Cheffins, 27th July 1865.
(5) The Hammanses came from Garford, Berkshire. Rebecca, Maria, Anna Maria and Elizabeth were all daughters of William Hammans and his wife Elizabeth.
(6) PROB 11/2022/350. Elizabeth Hammans had married John Abrahall by licence on 28 July 1828.

Neighbours:

<– 5 Mortimer Street

3 Mortimer Street –>

Richard Mills, musical circulating library

Tags

book trade, music

Street View: 9
Address: 140 New Bond Street

We saw in the post on Christopher Lonsdale that he used to work for Robert Birchall, music seller at 140 New Bond Street (was 129 from c. 1780-c. 1785 and 133 from c. 1788 to ±1816/7), but later set up on his own at 26 Old Bond Street. This post is about the shop at 140 New Bond Street where, after the death of Robert Birchall in December 1819, Christopher Lonsdale, Birchall’s daughter Mary, and Richard Mills formed a partnership to continue the music business. Mary Birchall left the partnership in 1829 and in October 1834 Mills and Lonsdale decided to discontinue the remaining partnership with Mills to stay at 140 New Bond Street and Lonsdale to start his own business. Richard Mills was the nephew of Mabel Mills, the wife of Robert Birchall, but the Millses were also related to the Lonsdales as Richard’s grandmother was the sister of the Christopher Lonsdale who died in 1797. Moreover, Christopher the younger who moved to 26 Old Bond Street, that is, the grandson of the Christopher who died in 1797, married Mary Ann Mills, the sister of Richard Mills, his former business partner. All quite complicated, but we will forget about the Lonsdales in this post and concentrate on Richard Mills.

trade card Birchall and Beardmore ±1783 (Source: British Museum Collection)

In an advertisement in The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c. of 21 February 1835, that is, 15 years after Birchall’s death, Mills described himself as “nephew and successor to the late Robert Birchall” who will continue the business “established nearly 60 years ago”. He draws particular attention to “the musical circulating library [which] will be continued as usual, as R.M. has been in the above house twenty-three years, and has paid particular attention to this department of the business”, so Richard had already been responsible for the library when Birchall was still alive and intended to continue with this part of the business. The rules are made clear in an 1816 booklet; no writing in the books allowed on fine of paying the set price; and the library was open from 8 o’clock in the morning till 8 o’clock in the evening, but “no longer”. There is no exclamation mark after this last clause, but it certainly feels as if there were customers annoyingly banging on the door trying to exchange material after eight. Why else the warning?

Rules and regulations of the circulating library (Source: British Museum Collection)

The 1841 census found Richard Mills, his wife Elizabeth, and their growing family at number 140 where they were to remain till they handed over to their successors Hill & Co, but let’s not get ahead and stay with the Millses for a bit. In 1841 four children are at home (Elizabeth, Thomas, Arthur and Robert); the eldest sons, Richard Maitland and Henry, are at school in Greenwich. In 1851, Richard Maitland and Henry are back home and described as assistants to their father, and so is Arthur. Son Thomas has chosen a different career and is a clerk in a foreign merchant’s office. The youngest son Robert is described as ‘scholar’, that is, still at school. Ten years on, in 1861, Richard Maitland and Robert are working in the business as assistants. Richard senior died 28 November 1870⁽¹⁾ and widow Elizabeth is named the head of the household in the 1871 census. Richard Maitland and Robert are still there and listed as music sellers. Thomas is also living in Bond Street and is listed as clerk, but whether he is a clerk in the music business or somewhere else is not made clear. In 1881, Richard Maitland, by then a widower,⁽²⁾ is the head of the household and living with him are Arthur and Robert. Ten years later, Richard has married again, Robert is still there, but no sign of Arthur.

advertisement in Faust: a romantic opera (1842)

Title on sheet music for a duet from the opera Faust (Source: National Trust Collection)

And the 1891 census was the last to list the Millses at 140 New Bond Street as in 1895, W.E. Hill & Sons (that is William Ebsworth and his sons William Henry, Arthur Frederick and Alfred Ebsworth) took over and immediately rebuilt the shop to their requirements. They specialised in string instruments and had started out in Wardour Street, adding 38 New Bond Street to their emporium and then moving their whole business to number 140 in 1895. The building is now Grade II listed and according to the listing text it was designed/built in the Flemish style by Frederick James Eedle and Sydney Herbert Meyers.⁽³⁾ You can read more about the Hill family and their track record as musical instrument makers and restorers here. The Hill Company was dissolved in 1992, but the building is still there and the ornate ground floor surround can still be admired (or loathed, depending on your architectural taste), although the shop windows have been replaced by a more modern version.

trade card for Hill & Sons at Wardour Street (Source: British Museum Collection)

shop front c. 1795 of Hill & Sons (Source: jiyugaoka website)

present-day shop front (Source: Google Street View)

(1) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1871. Probate is granted to widow Elizabeth and son Richard Maitland. Effects valued at under £7,000.
(2) He had married Fanny Judith Grattan, a widow, on 17 April 1876 at Langham, Westminster. She died in 1879 and Richard married again in 1882 with Martha Jane Aves from Cambridge.
(3) Listing NGR: TQ2887780824.

Neighbours:

<– 141 New Bond Street

139 New Bond Street –>

Christopher Lonsdale, music library

Tags

book trade, music

Street View: 7
Address: 26 Old Bond Street

To learn about Christopher Lonsdale of 26 Old Bond Street, we first have to go back to 1819 when Robert Birchall, a music seller at 140 New Bond Street, died. In his will, Birchall described Christopher as Christopher Lonsdale the Younger “now living with me”. Christopher’s father, also Christopher, is described by Birchall as “the Elder” and a relation of his wife’s. Robert Birchall was married to Mabel Mills, who was the daughter of Mary Mills-Lonsdale, who was the sister of Christopher Lonsdale the elder’s father, yet another Christopher Lonsdale. So, Christopher the younger was the grandson of the uncle of the wife of Robert Birchall. Still with me? The family relations are even more difficult than this, see for more information the post on 140 New Bond Street. Suffice it to say here that Christopher the younger was related to Birchall and worked in his shop until the latter’s death. Christopher Lonsdale, Birchall’s daughter Mary, and Richard Mills (another relation which is explained in the other post) formed a partnership after the death of Robert to continue the music business. Mary left the partnership in 1829 and in October 1834 Mills and Lonsdale decided to discontinue the remaining partnership with Mills to stay at 140 New Bond Street and Lonsdale to start his own business at 26 Old Bond Street, taking with him Birchill’s sign “Handel’s Head”. A photograph of the doorway of number 26 with the bust of Handel above it, can be found in the collection of the London County Council Photograph Library.

Click here to go to Collage for the original photograph

1834 was also the year in which Christopher the elder died. He is described as gentleman of Arlaw Banks, Whorlton, Durham.⁽¹⁾ Grandfather Christopher was also described as of Arlaw Banks; he died in 1797.⁽²⁾. Christopher the younger had been born in Whorlton, or at least, he was baptised there on 22 May 1795 as the son of Christopher and Mabel Lonsdale. This Mabel is not to be confused with the Mabel that married Birchall. Christopher’s mother was Mabel Bellamy. Christopher the younger married Mary Ann Mills, the sister of his business partner Richard Mills in 1821. But now onto the business and the shop at 26 Old Bond Street itself. The building is still there, although it has acquired a totally new shop front and the top floor as been extended upwards. You can, however, still recognise the brickwork and windows on the first and second floor as more or less original. The brickwork of the higher floors does not quite match.

Google Street View still shows Chanel as the occupant of the building, but they have recently moved to a bigger shop at 158-159 New Bond Street. I do not know who now occupies number 26 Old Bond Street as I have not been in the street for quite a while.

26 Old Bond Street from Google Street View

The first insurance record for Lonsdale with the Sun Fire Office after the split with Mills is dated 2 September 1835 and names Christopher as ‘music seller and publisher’, but he was certainly trading from the new address as early as March 1835 as an advertisement in The Morning Chronicle makes clear. And not just as a music seller, but also, as Birchall had done, as a musical circulating library (The Era, 12 December 1841). Please note that Lonsdale is still referring to Birchall, more than 8 years after opening his own shop.

Birchall had started publishing work by Ludwig von Beethoven in 1805 and obtained some of Beethoven’s’s copyrights in 1815/6. Beethoven sent a receipt in March 1816 confirming that he had received the equivalent of £65 from Birchall for the copyright of four works.⁽³⁾ In November 1816, Lonsdale writes to Beethoven on behalf of Birchall and says that he is “sorry to say Mr. Birchall’s health has been very bad for two or three years back – which prevents him from attending to business […] I fear but little hopes of his being much better”.⁽⁴⁾ Because of Birchall’s declining health, Lonsdale was the one to take over the correspondence with Beethoven, first as Birchall’s assistant, later in his own right from his premises in Old Bond Street. But not just Beethoven went with Lonsdale to Old Bond Street; Johann Sebastian Bach did as well. Yo Tomita, of Queen’s University Belfast, has dedicated a web-page to the publishing history of Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues, showing the editions published by Birchall and Lonsdale (see here).

Title-page of Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues (Source: Yo Tomita)

The 1841 census does not tell us very much other than that the Lonsdales were living above the shop, but in 1851 sons Charles Richard and Robert Edward are listed as ‘assistants’ and Christopher himself is employing 7 men. Ten years later, the sons are no longer living at home, but the number of employees has remained the same. In 1855, Robert Edward had married Marie Rosalie Thémar, “a talented pianiste”.⁽⁵⁾ In 1871, Robert Edward and Rosalie are once again living in Old Bond Street. Christopher is by then a widower and was to die in November 1877.⁽⁶⁾ I think that Robert continued the business for a few years, but in 1881, the name of Lonsdale is struck through in the Land Tax records and a Mr Hays is pencilled in. Robert died in 1891 and his address is then given as 21 Parkside, Albert Gate, Knightsbridge. He apparently died in Nice at Maison Salvi, 55 Boulevard de l’Imperatrice de la Russie.⁽⁷⁾

The Mr Hays of the Land Tax record was Alfred Hays, who took over the business, but not so much as a shop where music could be bought, but as theatre ticket supplier or ‘entertainment agent’. His sons, Alfred Cordeux and Herbert Bosworth, are referred to as such in the registration of the leasehold of 26 Old Bond Street in The London Gazette of 6 May 1921. They published, for instance, Alfred Hays’ Theatre Plan Book, Showing the Seating Plan of London Theatres, Concert Halls, Sports Grounds, &c.. Alfred Cordeux died on the last day of 1929. His brother Herbert was one of the executors of his will.⁽⁸⁾ Herbert himself died in 1948.⁽⁹⁾

(1) PROB 11/1826/305.
(2) PROB 11/1286/108.
(3) Lady Grace Wallace, Beethoven’s Letters 1790-1826 (1866), letter 181 (online here).
(4) Beethoven-Haus Bonn, NE 151 (online here).
(5) The Morning Chronicle, 2 August 1855.
(6) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1877. Robert Edward was one of the executors and the estate was valued at under £8,000.
(7) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1891. The estate was valued at just over £1,500.
(8) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1891. The estate was valued at over £27,300.
(9) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1891. The estate was valued at over £100,000.

Neighbours:

<– 27 Old Bond Street

25 Old Bond Street –>

Emanuel Serquet, harp maker

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music

Street View: 65
Address: 20 Charles Street

In The Times of 17 July, 1829, an advertisement appeared for music lessons (piano and harp) at Mr. Serquet’s, harp manufacturer, of 77 Great Tichfield Street, Portland Place. Private lessons at the advertiser’s address were 3 guineas a quarter with 2 lessons a week. In this case no initial or first name is given for Mr. Serquet, but an advertisement in the same paper of 26 February, 1836, tells us that we are dealing with E. Serquet. This time he “begs leave to acquaint the nobility and gentry that he has a splendid collection of new and second-hand double-movement harps” for sale or hire. The harps were manufactured by himself, by Erard, by Erat, etc. and were suited for any climate. So, if you happen to be leaving for India, you were “solicited to inspect the above”.

Name plate on a harp by Serquet (@National Trust inv. nr. 884817)

E. Serquet, that is Emanuel Serquet, must have moved between 1836 and 1839 to 20 Charles Street, frequently referred to as Charles Street, Middlesex Hospital, or Charles Street, Cavendish Square, to distinguish it from the other Charles Streets in London, as we find him there in the Tallis Street View. Charles Street has now been incorporated into Mortimer Street, but in Serquet’s time, the section between Wells Street and Goodge Street was called Charles Street. An indication of Serquet’s country of origin can be found in an advertisement in The Times of 26 May, 1851, where the annual sermon for the poor at the Swiss Church in Moor Street, Soho, is announced and Serquet’s address is mentioned as one of the places where donations could be handed in.

The 1851 census entry does indeed gives place of birth for Emanuel as Switzerland. He is then a widower and 61 years old. When he came to England is unclear, but he was certainly in London in 1822 when he married Frederique Louisa Esther Delechat at St James, Piccadilly, on the 6th of May. As far as I can find out, the couple only had daughters, of which Malvina, born in 1827, was probably the most talented. Already in 1851, we find her as “professor of music” in Walthamstow and after her marriage to James Dryden, a mercantile clerk, she is still styled thus in the 1861 and 1871 censuses. In 1881, 1891 and 1901, by then a widow, she is still classed as “professor of harp, piano & singing”. She dies in 1910.

The Era, 5 November 1871

But back to her father Emanuel. In 1824, the partnership as harp manufacturers between J.C. Schwieso, F. Grosjean and E. Serquet was dissolved.⁽¹⁾ No address is mentioned, unfortunately, but Grosjean and Schwieso are well-known harp makers. Frederick Grosjean will get a blog post of his own at some point as Tallis lists him at 11 Soho Square as Grosjean & Co., but Schwieso has not made it into the Tallis booklets, so a bit more about him here. He was born in 1786 and came from Hanover to England in 1808 to make his living as harp and pianoforte maker. He entered into various partnerships, among them with Grosjean and Serquet and worked from various addresses: 11 Soho Square (with Grosjean), 263 Regent Street (with Serquet), 79 Wigmore Street, 19 Marlborough Street and 74 George Street. He is found at that last address by the 1841 census. He died in 1847, apparently in the St. Pancras workhouse.⁽²⁾ In 1827, a partnership between Schwieso and Serquet is dissolved and the address given is 263 Regent Street, so the advert shown below may very well date from just before that.⁽³⁾

Source: downeyharps.com

harp by Serquet (@National Trust inv. nr. 884817)

The last reference I found for Serquet is in the 1856 Post Office Directory and in the 1861 census, 20 Charles Street is occupied by other people. I have not found a record of Serquet’s death, but he presumably died between 1856 and 1861. He may just have lived long enough to see the inauguration of the new Swiss Church in Endell Street. Serquet’s harps can still be found around the world and are treasured possessions of various museums.

Advertisement in The Musical Record of June 1895 in which Serquet, Grosjean and Schwieso are described as among “the famous harp-makers of the world”.

Swiss Church in Endell Street

(1) The London Gazette, 25 May 1824.
(2) Rootsweb and R.E.M. Harding, The Piano-Forte (1933).
(3) The London Gazette, 26 June 1827.

Neighbours:

<– 21 Charles Street

19 Charles Street –>

Louis Panormo, guitar maker

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music

Street View: 27
Address: 46 High Street, Bloomsbury

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the six-stringed guitar was introduced into England and one of the best maker of such guitars was Louis Panormo. His father, Vicenzo Panormo (1734-1813), originally a violin maker from Sicily, came to London via France with his four sons. The whole family was musically minded and many Panormos found work in London as instrument makers, musicians, music publishers and composers. There were to begin with Vicenzo’s four sons, Francis (1763-1843), Joseph (1768-1837), George (1776-1852) and Louis (1784-1862), but the next generation, Ferdinand (c.1795-1882), Robert (c.1803-1873), Edward (1811-1891), George Lewis (1815-1877) and Angelina (1811-1900) were also involved in the world of music. George Lewis, the son of George, will figure later in the story of Louis’ business. Louis styled himself “the only maker of guitars in the Spanish style”. Whether that was true is debatable, but it made a good advertorial phrase and he had it printed above the elevation of his shop in the Tallis Street View.

Advertisement in Street View 27

Guitar label (Source: art-robb.co.uk)

The labels Louis put in his guitars included his address, so it is possible to trace were his shops were situated. The earliest label of 1816 puts him at 26 High Street, but he moved to number 46 in 1828 where he remained until c.1846-7. He also had shops at number 40 High Street (1829-c.1832-3), at 6 Greek Street (1837-1840) and a short-lived one at 22 Compton Street (1847). From 1847-c.1854 he worked from 31 High Street. Tallis calls it High Street, Bloomsbury, but it is now better known as St. Giles High Street. Although the labels suggest he started his career in 1816, the advertisement he had in Street View 27 claims that he had already been working for thirty years which would date the start of his career at ±1809. His daughter Angelina (also Angiolina) was baptised on 1 March 1812 (date of birth 19 July 1811) at St. Pancras Old Church which suggests another area of the city, athough no specific address is given. When daughter Anna Maria is baptised at St. Giles in the Fields on 5 September 1813, the address of 43 Mortimer Street is given, but it is unclear whether he ever had a shop there. The name of the mother of these two girls was Ann, but that is all I know about her. When the next daughter, Mathilda, is baptised, the mother is listed as Sarah and the address is High Street, which does correspond to the guitar labels. More children were born to Louis and Sarah and when addresses are given in the baptismal records, they correspond to those on the guitar labels. Why Louis married Sarah Sutton only in 1834, many years after the children were born, remains a mystery. We also know that he rented a stable in Falconbery Court from where some riding material was stolen in April 1836.⁽¹⁾

Panormo guitar (Source: University of Edinburgh Collections images.is.ed.ac.uk)

Panormo’s guitars became quite famous and Major William Charles Yelverton wrote to Theresa Longworth,

“I forget whether guitar playing is one of your musical accomplishments; but having just heard of one of said instruments going for the sum which a music-seller in this town has pleased to offer for it, and which, I presume, is, according to trade custom, far under its value, I have persuaded the lady wanting to sell it to wait a day or two until I could hear from you whether you would promise to play the said guitar if I get it for you … I should have told you that the guitar was made by ‘Louis Panormo;’ not that I ever heard his name before, but they tell me he was a great man in his own line”.⁽²⁾

Two days later, the paper continues the letter conversation and Miss Yelverton wrote rather despondently “If you have got the guitar I will learn it, in the hope of doing something to please you, having hitherto failed in all my accomplishments”. Whether the Major bought the instrument and whether Theresa did indeed learn to play the guitar is unclear, but what is clear, is that Panormo’s name as a guitar maker was apparently highly regarded in Ireland from where Yelverton wrote his letter.

Six string guitar, labelled ‘Louis Panormo, London’, inlaid with mother of pearl (Source: National Trust Collection inv.nr. 836071)

The famous Spanish guitarist Antonio Trinitario Huerta (1800-1874) had come to England in 1827 and played on a guitar made by Panormo. This seems to have been a mutual benificial arrangement; the famous guitarist using a guitar made by London’s famous guitar maker. Panormo published Huerta’s Divertimentos which were dedicated to his student, Louis’ daughter Angelina. She married Huerta in 1828 when she was only 17 years old and the couple lived in Paris for a while, teaching the guitar, she to the ladies, he to the men. But ten years later, Angelina was back in London with her children while Huerta lived – apparently separately – at Brighton.

In 1859, Louis, his wife Sarah and three of their children took the boat to New Zealand to settle in Orua Bay (close to Auckland). They were not the first of the family to emigrate; three sons and two daughters had gone to Australia in 1853, but later joined the rest of the family in New Zealand. Nephew George Lewis continued the business of musical instrument maker in St. Giles High Street and later at 87 St. John Street, Fitzroy Square and in Whitefield Street until his death in 1877.⁽³⁾

The Bird Waltz (1816) by Francis Panormo, 26 High Street (Source: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)

A.T. Huerta. Life and Works (Source: finefretted.org)

No 1 from Huerta’s Four Divertimentos played by Taro Takeuchi on a Panormo guitar, albeit not one made by Louis, but by Edward (click to start the music)

———
Information that has not been given a footnote, came from Gary Southwell, The Panormo Guitar and its Makers, London College of Furniture (1983; online here) and James Westbrook, “Louis Panormo: ‘The only Maker of Guitars in the Spanish Style'” in Early Music, vol. XLI, no. 4 (2013).
(1) Old Bailey Case t18360404-1029. Stolen: 3 saddles, 1 pair of traces, 1 pair of harnes, 1 breeching, 1 bridle, 1 pair of reigns, 1 martingale and 1 horse-cloth. Total value 79s.
(2) Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertser, The Longworth-Yelverton Letters, 10 January 1863. Date of the actual letter not stated. See the Wikipedia pages for Yelverton and Longworth.
(3) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1877.

Neighbours:

<– 47 High Street

45 High Street –>

Henry Tolkien, music publisher

Tags

music

Street Views: 1 and 18 Suppl.
Address: 28 King William Street

Henry Tolkien was baptised on the 26th of September, 1814, at St. John’s Clerkenwell as the son of George Tolkien and his wife Eliza Lydia Murrell. Father George is described as a glass seller, living in White Lion Street. On the 23rd of September, 1840, Henry marries Amelia Sophia Barber at St. Olave’s, Southwark and three years later, he applies for his freedom of the City of London by redemption (that is: by paying a fine of £5.3.6) through the Company of the Loriners. But he must have been established at 28 King William Street before his official freedom, as we find his name in the Tallis Street Views which were published in 1839. Number 28 is situated in the section of King William Street between Crooked Lane and Arthur Street and where, coming from London Bridge, King William Street bends to the left and Gracechurch Street begins. As Tallis explains in his booklet, King William Street formed the new access from the foot of New London Bridge to the Bank of England. According to Tallis, it “consists entirely of large houses, appropriated to Insurance Company’s, or shops” and “it will rival any of the new improvements in London, for its great architectural beauty”. See the post on Henry Blenkinsop for a shop that had to be demolished for the new approach to the bridge.

Map from the Street View booklet with Tolkien’s shop marked in red

The earliest newspaper advertisement I found for Henry Tolkien is in The Morning Chronicle of 18 May, 1841, from which we learn that he not only sold and published music as the index to the Street Views stated, but also musical instruments. The advertisement mentions pianos, such as the “much admired piccolos in mahogany and rosewood cases” for 28 guineas, or if you preferred them in zebra wood, they were 31 guineas. Still not enough luxury for your taste? Well, why not buy a cottage piano “with double columns” and “lion scrolled legs” for 36 guineas.

Selection of sheet music available from Henry Tolkien

In September 1854, a number of music publishers were summoned to appear at Guildhall to answer complaints from Antonio Panizzi, the keeper of printed books and manuscripts at the British Museum⁽¹⁾, for not delivering copies of certain works of music to the library within one month after publication as they were required to do according to the Legal Deposit rules. The library section of the Museum is now the separate British Library, but the same deposit rules still apply (see here). Tolkien was the only publisher to appear at Guildhall and the charge against him was that he had neglected to send the library a copy of “The Guardsman’s Farewell” (price 2s 6d). To begin with, Tolkien said that he thought the Museum was rather sharp as the music had only been published a few weeks before and the omission to send a copy was entirely accidental. The Museum denied being sharp and in any case, Tolkien “had not delivered any work for years”. Tolkien then changed his excuse for non-delivery by claiming that he was not aware that he was required to send a copy as all the works he published were reprinted and out-of-copyright foreign productions. And the same productions were published by every other London bookseller and the Museum would have a hundred copies of each piece of music if all these reprints had to be submitted. Alderman Farebrother said that music sellers were not required to send in music imported from abroad, but if they reprinted the music in England, they must send a copy to the British Museum. Tolkien said that as soon he had been made aware of that rule, he had sent a copy to the library, but they had refused it. The library replied that it had been refused because the summons to Guildhall had already been issued. Oh dear. To cut a long story short, Tolkien had to pay a 10s fine, the cost of the case (4s) and he was to send the disputed copy to the library.⁽²⁾ Where, by the way, it still resides under shelfmark H.1756.(12.).

The Bruce Polka by H. Oakey (Source: Royal Academy of Music)

Unfortunately, in November 1850, Henry’s wife Amelia had died and in the 1851 census, 28 King William Street was occupied by Henry, his brother William Murrell (born 1810), his sister Anne (born ±1827) and a servant. Henry is given as music publisher and dealer in musical instruments. William is given the same job description and Anne is acting as housekeeper. Five years later, Henry marries his second wife, Elizabeth Charlotte Wright. The 1861 census does not list any occupants for 27-30 King William Street and I have not found Henry anywhere else, so there is a gap in the timeline, but we know that he extended the business to include number 27, concentrating more and more on the manufacture of pianofortes. In 1857, he registered “improvements in pianofortes” together with one Joseph Middleton of Finsbury, but what those improvements were is unclear.⁽³⁾

Source: Ebay

Somewhere in the second half of 1876, the business relocated to 51 King William Street, although the family no longer lived above the shop. In the 1871 census, Henry, and his extending family, can be found at 69 Brook Green, Hammersmith. Henry is listed as piano manufacturer, employing 20 men and 4 boys. Ten years later, the family is found at 6 William Terrace, High Road, Chiswick. Henry is still listed as piano manufacturer but the number of employees is not given. Son Charles (23 years old) is listed as manager for his father. Two other sons, William Brindley (21 years old) and George (19 years old) are “pianoforte employees”, presumably in their father’s business, although that is not stated. Henry died 29 December 1885 and probate was granted to the widow and two of the sons (Henry Monteith and Charles Constantine). The estate was valued at just over £5,304.⁽⁴⁾

And yes, in case you were wondering, Henry and J.R.R. are related. J.R.R. was the grandson of John Benjamin Tolkien who was Henry’s elder brother (see more on the Tolkien family in general here and on John Benjamin in particular here.) And for a portrait of music publisher Henry see here.

(1) Update 15 September 2015: post on Panizzi on the Untold Lives blog of the British Library. See here.
(2) The Morning Post, 6 September 1854.
(3) London Gazette, 29 May 1857.
(4) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1886.

Neighbours:

<– 29 King William Street

27 King William Street –>

Metzler & Co, pianoforte manufacturers

Tags

music

Street View: 62
Address: 105 Wardour Street

In c. 1790, Valentine Metzler came to England from Bingen on the Rhine, Germany. He married an Englishwoman and their only son, George Richard (1797-1867) joined his father in the business, as did George’s son, George Thomas (1835-1879).⁽¹⁾ The earliest record I found is a July 1794 entry in the Sun Fire Office where Valentine insures premises at 344 Oxford Street. He describes himself as ‘wind musical instrument maker and dealer in iron and rags’. The next insurance record is for 1822 when Valentine and George can be found at 105 Wardour Street where they are ‘musical wind instrument makers and dealers in musical instruments’. An 1828 advertisement in The Harmonicon announces “New comic songs” that were published by the Metzlers and also the arrival of a shipment of Spanish guitars. In 1836, they advertise their improved seraphines in The Musical World which are “capable of giving effect to any organ music, at a price less than one fourth the cost of an organ of the same power and depth of tone”. In late 1839, George Richard registers a pianoforte damper for which he gets a one-year copyright.⁽²⁾ A few years later, Metzler & Co move to Great Marlborough Street, starting at number 37, but expanding over time to include the neighbouring properties.

As can be seen from the advert Metzler & Co had in the Street View booklet, they sold much more than just piano fortes. Not only did they sell all kinds of other musical instruments, such as flutes and drums, they also sold and published music. George Thomas was a gifted songwriter himself. And although the names in the advert suggest their publications were only of the highest classical sort consisting of sheet music by composers such as Mozart or Beethoven, they also published more popular music as can be seen from the picture below.

See-Saw (source: Wellcome Images), Music Man and Punch’s Wedding Polka (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum)

Metzler’s also published instruction manuals, such as Joseph R.W. Harding’s New and Complete Method for the German Concertina (1858), Metzler and Co.’s tutor for the viola or tenor (1920), and even a magazine, Exeter Hall: a monthly magazine of sacred music (1842-1881).
The Metzler instruments sometimes come up for auction and a number can be found in various museums around the world. Below two examples, but many more can be found by searching the Internet. The first picture is of a boxwood clarinet that I saw advertised on Ebay (Thomas Flatt Antiques) and the second one is of some sort of piano in the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels (they just describe it as a ‘musical instrument’). Note the name label on the inside of the lid.

When they resided in Great Marlborough Street, Metzler’s became the agent for Mason & Hamlin, the American organ builders. The Metzler firm, after a few more moves to Charing Cross Road and Rathbone Place, was eventually taken over by J.B. Cramer in the 1930s.

——————–
(1) Grove’s A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume 4 (1900).
(2) National Archives, Kew: BT 42/1/128.

Postscript: A reader (see comments) sent me pictures of a guitar, according to the label imported by Metzler. An additional label indicates that the guitar was later sold by Alday’s in Dublin.

Photographs guitar and label provided by Brian McMahon, for which my grateful thanks. Anyone with information for him, please leave a comment

Neighbours:

<– 104 Wardour Street

106 Wardour Street –>

François Cramer, violinist

Tags

music

Street View: 82
Address: 37 Charlotte Street

In the street directory for Street View 82 (Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square) we find a Mr. Cramer at number 37 without an occupation. The elevation map in booklet 82 unfortunately does not show numbers 28 to 68, although the inhabitants are listed in the directory. Quite a number of residents in the missing part of the street have no occupation after their name and I assume that Tallis considered that part of Charlotte Street, that is, the section between Tottenham Street and Howland Street, too residential for his Street Views which were basically a guide to the shops of London. Why he nevertheless decided to list the names of those living in the missing section is unclear. You will, therefore, not find the customary elevation at the top of this post, but to compensate for this gap in the Tallis information, below a map of the area with Cramer’s house marked with a cross.

Charlotte Street originally only extended to Goodge Street, later to Tottenham Street and that section was also known as Lower Charlotte Street. When the street was extended from Tottenham Street to Howland Street, the new section was referred to as Upper Charlotte Street. This Upper section is what Tallis does not show on his map. The houses have been re-numbered twice in their history – to make life easy for historians no doubt – with the present sequence running from south to north, with the odd numbers on the west and the even numbers on the east side.⁽¹⁾ When Mr. Cramer lived in Charlotte Street, his house, which was situated on the east side, just around the corner from what is now Chitty Street, was numbered 37, but nowadays it is number 82 and part of the Saatchi & Saatchi building. Chitty Street, by the way, was previously called North Street, although Tallis in his directory calls it North Place.

The Survey of London⁽¹⁾ gives us the occupants for number 82 (= 37):

1786–1794, Sir Charles Booth, Bt. 1797–1808, Sir Alexander Hamilton. 1835–1844, Francois Cramer (1772–1848), violinist

Sir Charles Booth (1812-1896) was the 3rd baronet of Portland Place, a gin-distiller, and no, he had nothing to do with Charles Booth, the social reformer and philanthropist. Sir Alexander Hamilton is a bit of a mystery [see comment for information]. I had a look at the Wikipedia page for the Hamilton baronets and there is no Alexander there in the correct period. Never mind, we will concentrate on François Cramer who was the Mr. Cramer listed by Tallis.

Portrait of François Cramer by Benjamin Phelps Gibbon, after William Watts ©National Portrait Gallery

François (or Franz) Cramer was the son of Wilhelm Cramer and the brother of Johann Baptist Cramer, both musicians who became far more famous than François. François was born on 12 June 1772 in Schwetzingen, near Mannheim and Heidelberg, but came to London when still young. He was not a very robust child and was taught the violin by his father at home, later frequently appearing in concerts with his father and/or brother. In 1794, he became a member of the Royal Society of Musicians and the leading violinist of the Ancient Concerts. In 1813, he was one of the founding member of the Philharmonic Society Orchestra. In 1834 he became Master of the King’s music. He may have composed music, but if so, most of his work has disappeared; only one violin composition is known.⁽²⁾ Allatson Burgh, in his Anecdotes of Music praises “Messrs. J. and François Cramer, each in his respective line” for their “strength, correctness, and elegance of expression, incalculably superior to the tricks and rapid execution of those dealer in ‘notes, et rien que des notes,’ whom the tasteless caprice of fashion is constantly importing, like other wonderful and useless exotics.”⁽³⁾

Jacques de Claeuw, Vanitas, 1650 ©Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

In May, 1829, Felix Mendelssohn wrote that he was in the Argyll Rooms to rehears his symphony with the Philharmonic Orchestra and that there were about two hundred listeners, chiefly ladies. Apparently, the rehearsals were not behind closed doors and the public was welcome. Mendelssohn writes that François Cramer, the first violin, first introduced him to all the members of the orchestra and then the rehearsal started. According to Mendelssohn “it went very well and powerfully, and pleased the people much even at rehearsal. After each movement the whole audience and the whole orchestra applauded”. After the rehearsal, “Cramer was overjoyed, and loaded me with praise and compliments” and Mendelssohn had to shake “at least two hundred different hands.” The actual concert on 25 May went even better and the public vigorously demanded an encore and “after the finale they continued applauding”.⁽⁴⁾ The symphony he conducted on 25 May was first envisaged as Sinfonia 13, but became Symphony no. 1 in C minor op. 11 and when it was published in 1831, Mendelssohn dedicated the symphony to the Philharmonic Society.⁽⁵⁾ As can be seen in the next illustration, it was not just Mendelssohn himself who was pleased with the way the performance went; The Morning Post of 27 May reviewed the symphony favourably and was most impressed by Mendelssohn’s use of a baton.

In 1831, concern was voiced in The Spectator that Cramer was to leave the Philharmonic Society. The paper hoped that the report was not true as “the loss would be mutual: the orchestra would miss the services of so excellent and experienced a leader; and to him, or to any other of its leaders, the occupancy of such a situation must be in every way advantageous”.⁽⁶⁾ It proved an unfounded piece of gossip, but a few years later, in 1839, a small notice appeared in The Musical World suggesting that Cramer’s health was not what it should be. “Mr. François Cramer has, we regret to learn, been dangerously ill, but hopes are now entertained of his recovery; his complaint is a nervous affection of the head, from which he has suffered most excruciating pains.”⁽⁷⁾ but a few years later, in 1844, Cramer did resign as leader of the Philharmonic Society, continuing as a ‘normal’ member until his death.

The 1841 census (probably roughly the same period in which Tallis’s Street View 82 appeared) finds François, “professor of music”, living at 37 Charlotte Street with his wife Ann and sons Henry, 22 years old, a civil engineer, Frederick, 17 years old, a builder, and Arthur, 15 years old, also a “professor of music”. Ann is Ann Barwick Lamb whom François had married on 14 November 1806 in Brighton. It is unclear whether the family stayed in Charlotte Street; there is a suggestion⁽⁸⁾ that they moved to Cavendish Square, but unfortunately the next census of 1851 came too late to be of any use to determine the veracity of the suggestion. Cramer died on 25 July 1848 and was buried on the 29th at St. John’s Hampstead.

Ancient Concerts – A Rehearsal by John Doyle. Lithograph 1838. Politicians have taken the place of musicians to signify that in both politics and music the cooperation of the individual members under the leadership of an able conductor is vital. (Source: http://www.albion-prints.com)

(1) Survey of London: volume 21: The parish of St Pancras part 3: Tottenham Court Road & neighbourhood, 1949.
(2) Biographical information from Grove Dictionary of Music. The manuscript of Cramer’s violin composition (Album Leaf) is in the British Library, as are the archival records and scores of the Philharmonic Society.
(3) A. Burgh, Anecdotes of Music, Historical and Biographical; in a Series of Letters from a Gentleman to his Daughter, 1814, vol. 3, p. 445-456.
(4) Sebastian Hensel (translated by C. Klingemann), The Mendelssohn Family (1729–1847), vol. 1 (2013), p. 184-185.
(5) The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn, ed. P. Mercer-Taylor (2004), p. 96-97.
(6) The Spectator, 26 November 1831.
(7) The Musical World, A Magazine of Essays, Critical and Practical, and Weekly Record of Musical Science, Literature, and Intelligence, 3 January 1839, p. 14.
(8) Deborah Rohr, The Careers of British Musicians, 1750-1850: A Profession of Artisans (2001), p. 38.

Neighbours:

<– 36 Charlotte Street

38 Charlotte Street –>